A tornado emanating from the storm front surrounding Hurricane Gustav slammed into parts of Eglin AFB, Fla., Sept. 1, damaging homes and the base’s child development center. The funnel cloud touched down at about 9:45 a.m. local time on a base runway and then skirted through base housing, causing damage along the way. It continued south through base housing, uprooting trees in its path, before exiting over Choctawhatchee Bay. Thankfully, the CDC was closed due to the Labor Day holiday so no children were there. (Eglin report by Lois Walsh)
It'll take up to 18 months for Lockheed Martin to deliver the 100 or so F-35s that went directly from production line to storage, awaiting the completion of Tech Refresh 3 testing. Customers haven't complained about the order in which the backlog is being delivered.